Heroes and Villains
Detailed sypnosis The episode opens with Rodney's futuristic dream, in which a grown-up Damien, head of the now multinational and all-powerful Trotters Independent Traders, rules the world, barking orders to President Keanu Reeves and waxing lyrical about the benefits of war in the year 2026. Del Boy and Raquel live in a mansion, Trotter Towers, but Rodney himself is merely an old messenger, Cassandra is a maid, and Uncle Albert's body has been preserved. Rodney wakes up back in 1996 on his birthday to learn that Del's application for a council grant has been rejected, and Raquel receives a mysterious letter, which turns out to be from her estranged parents, who want to meet her again. It emerges that Rodney and Cassandra have been trying for a baby, which leads to an unsuspecting Uncle Albert drinking one of Cassandra's urine specimens, believing it to be apple juice. Meanwhile at Sid's cafe, Trigger, who is telling everyone in earshot about a medal he received from the local council for owning the same broom for twenty years, despite the fact that it has actually had 17 new heads and 14 new handles in that time. Del also buys tickets for himself and Rodney to attend a publican's fancy dress birthday party, while Cassandra goes to Spain with her mother, and Raquel and Damien visit her parents. The Inflatables of Batman and Robin are brought to life in this series now they are shown as life sized Inflatables At Del's insistence, he and Rodney go to the party dressed as Batman and Robin respectively, but their Reliant Regal van breaks down halfway there and they have to run the rest of the way. En route they interrupt an attempt to mug Councillor Murray and, emerging from the fog dressed as Batman and Robin, promptly scare away the thieves. Del Boy and Rodney arrive at the party, unaware that the publican, Harry Malcolm, had in fact died the day before and the fancy dress has thus been cancelled in favour of a wake (a fact that Boycie, who meets them in the doorway, declines to mention), and they burst into the main room singing the Batman theme tune. Despite the embarrassment, they are asked to stay at the wake. Del and Rodney are in the market the next day and see the gang of muggers again, this time attacking an elderly woman. Rodney gives chase, before one of the muggers then starts chasing him; Del ultimately knocks the mugger unconscious with his suitcase. Following the mugging, Del (though not Rodney, much to his annoyance) receives a medal for apprehending the gang. While at the awards ceremony, he meets Councillor Murray again, who offers to do him a favour in return for rescuing her a few nights previously. Later on at the flat, they see in the newspaper that Del and Rodney have received credit for capturing the muggers, although the newspaper people have somehow mistaken Rodney's name for the "Rooney" name on his identity bracelet. That night, back at the Nelson Mandela House, Del Boy announces that his application for a council grant has now been approved, and Rodney reveals that he and Cassandra are expecting a baby. Stats Season: Christmas Special Writer: David Schwimmer ''' '''Director: Tony Dow Producer: Gareth Gwenlan Duration: 60 minutes Airdate: December 25, 1996 Featured characters *Del Boy/ Jim broad bent *Raquel *Damien *Rodney *Cassandra *Uncle Albert *Boycie *Marlene *Mike *Denzil Other notes Continuity errors *Del is turned down a council grant for home improvement on his kitchen, but in "Mother Nature's Son", Del bought the flat off the council. *Raquel visits her parents whom she hasn't seen for years, yet in "The Jolly Boys' Outing 1998", Raquel told Del that she had no family left. Although it can be claimed that what Raquel meant she had no family emotionally in that they had cut all ties with her and so this was not an error after all. *Rodney buys Cassandra a rabbit because she's feeling broody, yet in "Three Men, a Woman, and a Baby", Cassandra said she's allergic to fur.this episode is shown with Rodney come home with the blues brothers the Batman and Robin episodes are now played By Chandler and Ross Miscellaneous trivia *During Rodney's dream, Damien is speaking on the telephone to the American President who is named Keanu Reeves. *When production began on the 1996 Christmas trilogy, it originally started off as just one episode, where its original script included all the elements of both "Heroes and Villains" and "Time On Our Hands", but compressed to fit into one movie. But as the ideas grew, John Sullivan told the producers that more than one episode would be needed, so "Modern Men" was written as a filler between the two episodes, and it ended up being the current trilogy. Previous episode: Fatal Extraction Next episode: Modern Men Heroes and Villains Category:Inflatables Category:Newsletter Category:Videos